Rosa carolina and Some Hybrids

Much of my rose-collecting has been centered around Rosa carolina and its first-generation hybrids-- exactly why, I'm not sure, but there are some factors that might account for why I find this species so attractive...

• It has a relatively short stature;
• It suckers-- effectively propagating itself;
• The glandular flower buds with long stamens are neat;
• It's easy to breed with.

Being native to the Southeast disease is almost never a concern, and it can tolerate significantly more neglect and shade than the complex Chinensis-section hybrids. And the once-blooming habit has never bothered me too much-- after all, the extreme vast majority of other native plants flower once annually.

There is a smidgeon of phenotypic variation out there: the Guide to the Vascular Plants of Tennessee recognizes two subspecies, one, subserrulata, having eglandular flower parts, and ssp. carolina having the characteristic array of pedicel and hypanthia glands. Petal width, flower size and color, and leaf size, color, luster, and degree of corrugation vary too, of course.

R. carolina is widespread in Middle Tennessee cedar glades, in particularly rocky locations made to adopt a relatively small thicket form. These flowers are very pale pink, probably having been bleached white by intense sun.

A Jackson, MS plant with smallish flowers and narrow petals

A Jackson, MS clone with relatively narrow petals-- and are those stable "dimples" at the petal edge or just evidence of herbivory?

A Middle Tennessee plant of darker coloration

Relatively wide petals of an Oxford, MS clone

As with nearly every other rose species, the mutation creating the white alba variety has no doubt occurred countless times-- at some point white R. carolina was in commerce in North America, but currently no nursery offers it, although it is still apparently sold in Europe. And the mutation of some stamens into petals has given rise to the double form plena (which does not seem to be available either).

Fortunately this species has garnered the attention of some amateur breeders who were kind enough to share some suckers with me-- one of my favorites is '3/4 Native' from the writer of Mid-Atlantic Plant Research Center, Tom Silvers; the mother being a cross between the hybrid tea 'Fragrant Cloud' and R. carolina, and the pollen donor being R. virginiana (closely related to carolina, in the same section of the genus). Although the possibility for disease is certainly there, owing to the admittedly somewhat unhealthy hybrid tea heritage, it has proved to be quite resistant for me, even in very humid conditions.

Double but with a glimpse of stamens, '3/4 Native' is almost the ideal result from its parents-- the extra petals, saturated color, and foliage pigmentation from the Chinensis-based hybrid tea, with the wild habit and resilience of the Carolinae natives.

Another hybrid, of the parentage R. carolina X ('Red Dawn' X 'Suzanne') is a cull from Rose Hybridizers Association forum member J. Bergeson. It has interesting cupped semidouble flowers and an attractive arching form, but had some trouble with blackspot, and resembled R. carolina much less than other hybrids I've had.

Quite pretty-- but sadly I don't have it anymore, which might be for the best owing to Southeastern humidity.

The last I'll list here is a cross between R. gallica from Gaul, an important progenitor of many of the roses grown in Europe before the introduction of the repeat-blooming "Stud Chinas," and R. carolina-- uniting the carolinae and gallicinae sections in the most direct way possible. The plant is pretty as all wild roses are, but might be most interesting for what it represents genetically.

Carolina-gallica.

Although few carolina hybrids are commercially available, and many of those currently grown might not actually be the best use of space, if one is looking for roses of maximum ornamental value, the group represents what cultivars might be possible if native plants were used genetically in conjunction with the traditional Old World imports. This might not be the future of moneyed corporate rose breeding, but it certainly has seemed to become the theme among many amateur breeders-- which is certainly a good thing owing to the historical supremacy of hybrid teas and their relatives.